days of '47

The Days of ’47 parade draws hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of Salt Lake City every year. And some of the people who live along those streets say the city isn’t doing enough to keep the crowds from trashing their property.

Salt Lake City’s street sweepers were out along 900 South on Friday, cleaning up after the huge crowds that lined the Days of ’47 parade route the day before.

The Days of ’47 parade has once again turned down a request to allow the group Mormons Building Bridges to participate in the annual event on Pioneer Day.

Mormons Building Bridges, which works for inclusion of LGBT people within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wanted to put a classic car in the parade with eight people representing their group. They were turned down because parade rules specifically bar entries that might be “controversial.”

Mormons Building Bridges was last year’s largest entry in Salt Lake City’s annual Pride Parade. But the group’s request to have a modest presence in the Days of ’47 Parade this year has been turned down.

Hundreds of people lined the streets of Downtown Salt Lake City this morning to witness the annual Days of ‘47 Parade.

The annual celebration remembers the arrival of the first pioneer settlers to the Salt Lake Valley. On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young and his fellow Latter-day Saints emerged from the mouth of Emigration Canyon, pulling handcarts and driving wagons. 165 years later, colorful floats, horse-drawn carriages and pioneer wear harken back to that momentous trek.